Comments on: Digital Anthropology Group Is Happening Nowhttp://savageminds.org/2012/03/22/digital-anthropology-group-is-happening-now/
Notes and Queries in AnthropologyTue, 31 Mar 2015 19:41:28 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1By: Statement of Purpose | 01anthropologyhttp://savageminds.org/2012/03/22/digital-anthropology-group-is-happening-now/comment-page-1/#comment-752832
Thu, 15 Nov 2012 04:14:19 +0000http://savageminds.org/?p=7344#comment-752832[…] of Purpose that I submitted to the AAA when forming the interest group, which first appeared on Savage Minds back in March. It’s not a contract, I just thought it would be a useful thing to spur […]
]]>By: Some DANG history: Who are we and what are we doing here? | 01anthropologyhttp://savageminds.org/2012/03/22/digital-anthropology-group-is-happening-now/comment-page-1/#comment-736716
Fri, 17 Aug 2012 01:33:27 +0000http://savageminds.org/?p=7344#comment-736716[…] Resolving to move forward with dual groups (within and outside the AAA) we began debating our goals and what we might call ourselves. This work is still ongoing. You can read a draft version of our mission statement here. […]
]]>By: Matt Thompsonhttp://savageminds.org/2012/03/22/digital-anthropology-group-is-happening-now/comment-page-1/#comment-722135
Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:47:51 +0000http://savageminds.org/?p=7344#comment-722135On this first note it might be helpful to meet with the people in SOYUZ and see what they are doing to make it work for their non-AAA members. For example the host their own annual meeting. We could make that idea our own by putting together an online, international, cross-disciplinary meeting. Or whatever! The whole idea is to come up with some shared activity that everyone can participate in.
]]>By: Ryanhttp://savageminds.org/2012/03/22/digital-anthropology-group-is-happening-now/comment-page-1/#comment-722130
Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:05:45 +0000http://savageminds.org/?p=7344#comment-722130Thanks for continuing to push this effort forward, Matt. One thing that I think we could add to the goals: maybe the DMG could be a sort of bridge within the AAA to non-US anthropologists, associations, etc? I think it’s a good idea to work within the structure of the AAA…but I also think it would be good to make it known that this group is also about extending connections beyond that one association/institution. This might help invite more participation and interest from non-AAA folks. Also, it could be a good tool for opening up the AAA from the inside.

Also, I really like “Digital Methods Group,” but I am wondering if the word “anthropology” needs to be in the title? Maybe I am being to simple about this though. I’ll be interested to see the results from the survey.

Thanks again, Matt, for all your work with this. I’m looking forward to seeing what develops.

]]>By: Digital Anthropology Group: UPDATE | Open Access Anthropologyhttp://savageminds.org/2012/03/22/digital-anthropology-group-is-happening-now/comment-page-1/#comment-722118
Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:47:33 +0000http://savageminds.org/?p=7344#comment-722118[…] to lead the charge toward the creation of a Digital Anthropology Group over at Savage Minds. Here’s the latest post. The first step is to decide on a name–there is a link to a survey where you can put in […]
]]>By: Matt Thompsonhttp://savageminds.org/2012/03/22/digital-anthropology-group-is-happening-now/comment-page-1/#comment-722042
Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:57:34 +0000http://savageminds.org/?p=7344#comment-722042Our AAA roundtable will need to be reviewed by a section. Any suggestions? In the future, once we’re recognized as an interest group we can have invited roundtables but since we won’t officially exist until after the submission deadline we need an already existing section to be our ally.

Who might be sympathetic/interested in our project?

]]>By: Alexishttp://savageminds.org/2012/03/22/digital-anthropology-group-is-happening-now/comment-page-1/#comment-722013
Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:42:21 +0000http://savageminds.org/?p=7344#comment-722013Yay! Great idea! I’m excited for it!
]]>By: Andrew Wilkinsonhttp://savageminds.org/2012/03/22/digital-anthropology-group-is-happening-now/comment-page-1/#comment-722012
Tue, 27 Mar 2012 23:23:07 +0000http://savageminds.org/?p=7344#comment-722012I am not sure if this is entirely within the scope of the group, but myself and another student were recently discussing the current use of technology on sites and in field work. In particular, we are looking at the potential to record, and then access information remotely, specifically with the intent of having information accessible by subject experts across the globe. One of our focus points was enabling the accessibility of cheaper technology in developing countries while allowing access to the wider knowledge base.
]]>By: Mick Morrisonhttp://savageminds.org/2012/03/22/digital-anthropology-group-is-happening-now/comment-page-1/#comment-721998
Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:25:29 +0000http://savageminds.org/?p=7344#comment-721998I agree with Leigh, the focus here needs to remain very much on the four fields etc., so as to encourage greater awareness and collaboration. Digital methods in anthropology have bounded ahead in recent years, in terms of the collection of field (and other) data as well as how he we analyse it and how we communicate results with interest groups. I’m really fascinated in learning about how others are using these new(ish) methods in such contexts, however the theoretical / conceptual work is critical to understanding these methods and the role of digital technologies in human life-worlds.

Let’s not privilege either theory or method/applied work, as Matt suggests, since that will turn people away.. I wonder if having ‘methods’ in the group title may give the wrong impression?’ Digital Interest Group’ is good, and as an archaeologist the acronym works for me :)

]]>By: Leighhttp://savageminds.org/2012/03/22/digital-anthropology-group-is-happening-now/comment-page-1/#comment-721935
Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:06:33 +0000http://savageminds.org/?p=7344#comment-721935I’m in as well. I study sound and food (digital but not occularcentric in the least). I also think that it’s important not to fracture – four fields, interdisciplinary and studying both the pedagogical use of digital methods and the anthropological study of digital environments, it makes us that much stronger. Anthropology often discourages collaboration (at least at the dissertation level) and I think this is the perfect venue to recognize how these approaches and disciplines can work in tandem and be of greater value to the public.
]]>By: Matt Thompsonhttp://savageminds.org/2012/03/22/digital-anthropology-group-is-happening-now/comment-page-1/#comment-721934
Mon, 26 Mar 2012 18:51:27 +0000http://savageminds.org/?p=7344#comment-721934Thanks KM! I’ve been meaning to do that and now I can cross it off my list!
]]>By: K.M.http://savageminds.org/2012/03/22/digital-anthropology-group-is-happening-now/comment-page-1/#comment-721932
Mon, 26 Mar 2012 18:16:22 +0000http://savageminds.org/?p=7344#comment-721932This is great! I’m sharing with the National Association of Student Anthropologists (NASA) listserv.
]]>By: Melissahttp://savageminds.org/2012/03/22/digital-anthropology-group-is-happening-now/comment-page-1/#comment-721894
Mon, 26 Mar 2012 04:25:41 +0000http://savageminds.org/?p=7344#comment-721894Ditto John and others – “what Juris said”. While I appreciate the desire for the foregrounding of focus on how digitally mediated communications impact anthropological research methods, addressing that without the simultaneous consideration of what we know (or theorize) about cyberworlds, networked sociality, etc. seems unsatisfying. On the other hand, keeping the predominance of focus less on the “of” and more on the “in” seems worth endeavoring to preserve.
]]>By: John McCreeryhttp://savageminds.org/2012/03/22/digital-anthropology-group-is-happening-now/comment-page-1/#comment-721885
Mon, 26 Mar 2012 01:26:02 +0000http://savageminds.org/?p=7344#comment-721885@John Hawks

Serendipitously, I am rereading SF novelist Stephen Baxter’s Evolution, about half of which is speculative reconstruction of the lived worlds of pre-H. Sapiens primates, all the way back to Purgatorious, a contemporary of the dinosaurs. I wonder what someone far more expert than I when it comes to biological anthropology would think of those reconstructions. Have you by any chance read it?

I say serendipitously because one of the things that makes the book so compelling is vivid accounts of worlds shaped by a more acute sense of smell than we modern humans have.

]]>By: John Hawkshttp://savageminds.org/2012/03/22/digital-anthropology-group-is-happening-now/comment-page-1/#comment-721873
Sun, 25 Mar 2012 21:29:13 +0000http://savageminds.org/?p=7344#comment-721873“I wonder what they meant for those who will never actually be there, with the stinks, the smells, the flavors and textures I recall so vividly.”

Wow, that’s worth a lot of thought. Anthropology began at a time when travelers’ reports were rare and — although Europe wasn’t as antiseptic as now — most of the “theorizing” was done by armchair philosophers. The field became more empirical as it matured, with all the key players engaged in distant and prolonged fieldwork.

Until it turned inward and reflexive. Now, if no one needs to go to the field, if they can work from a console, the field may really be returning to its pre-ethnography roots.